Massachusetts Issued Almost 2,000 Driver’s Licenses To Dead People

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) issued 1,905 licenses to dead people — 97 percent of which were active as of January — in a move the state auditor called “a significant public safety risk.”

The audit, conducted by the office of State Auditor Suzanne Bump, found the state agency did not deactivate 4,688 licenses for people who died before their licenses expired.

Most of the death dates of those issued licenses were between 1988 and 2010, with “some” as early as 1962, according to the audit, which said the “licenses appeared to have been issued to individuals who were attempting to obtain false identification.”“The failure to prevent individuals from obtaining identification under the names of deceased people creates a significant public safety risk to the Commonwealth,” Bump said in a statement.